PHIL Brown expects new recruit Jermaine McGlashan to be a real weapon for Swindon Town next season.

Midfielder McGlashan became Town’s first new signing of the summer on Monday after putting pen to paper on a two-year contract with the club to join on a free transfer, having been released by League One side Southend United at the end of last season.

This week’s deal marks the second time Brown has signed McGlashan, with the former Premier League boss having been the man to bring the 30-year-old to Roots Hall back in the summer of 2016.

After becoming a key man under Brown at United, McGlashan jumped at the chance to link up again, and the Town boss believes he can prove to be handful for opposition defences in League Two next term.

“Jermaine is blessed with blistering pace, that’s his biggest asset. He can run like the wind,” said Brown.

“He is very good on the assist front, he creates a lot of chances with his trickery and his pace and he has the ability to get at defenders. That’s the part that I like.

“It’s a big pitch at the County Ground and there is plenty of space out there, and when you have got pace in your team, you can cause the opposition lots of problems.

“I think he could even get us six or seven penalties next season because of the way he gets at defenders.”

McGlashan turned 30 at the back end of last season but Brown has seen little sign of his new recruit’s talents starting to wane.

The former Cheltenham Town and Gillingham man will link up with his new team-mates for the first time on Monday when Swindon begin their pre-season training programme, and Brown believes he will prove to be a big asset for the club.

“He’s 30 years old but you’d never believe that in a million years,” said Brown.

“Having done a fitness test on him on Monday, my coaching staff were full of admiration of his physique. He is a young 30-year-old.

“He plays wide right or wide left but he can also play down the middle in a striker’s role. I think he is going to do very well for us.”

After their training programme begins on Monday, Town play their opening pre-season friendly just eight days later away at non-league side Cirencester Town on Tuesday, July 3.

However, Brown knows it will be in the home friendlies against West Bromwich Albion and Portsmouth where his side’s credentials will truly be tested.

“We have a couple of home games in pre-season which are very important, I think the Portsmouth game and the West Brom game are vital, not to say that the other games aren’t important,” said Brown.

“We have two games at the County Ground where we have to emulate the way we are going to play on the opening day of the season.

“We have to play the kind of football that we are going to play on August 4.”